Wellington, Feb. 27: The rift between the Indian Premier League and the Indian Cricket League came out in the open again with the BCCI ordering Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik to pull out of an unofficial game which involved the participation of a player formerly contracted with the rebel ICL.

Hamish Marshall, who turned up for Royal Bengal Tigers last season, was part of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association Masters XI who took on their Australian counterparts in a Twenty20 match at the Westpac Stadium as a curtain raiser to the India-New Zealand game on Friday.

Tendulkar was to play for the Kiwis while Karthik was drafted into the Australian side before both withdrew on the morning of the match under instructions from the Indian board.

New Zealand Cricket Players Association chief executive Heath Mills called it unfair.

"We are surprised, and really disappointed with the position of the BCCI. Cricket’s the loser on this day. It just seems a bit silly to me," he said as he contended the Indian team management had known about the arrangement all along. "During the week we had made the offer to the management. The (Indian) team management confirmed Sachin and Dinesh would play and that they were allowed to do that. Then, we woke up this morning with news that the BCCI did not want the two Indians to play in the match because Marshall was playing," he complained.

Mills contended the Indian board may have got it wrong. "Marshall was an ICL player. However, his contract ended with the ICL last year ... we did not think there would be any problem," Mills said. "When I learnt about the BCCI’s decision, I went back and tried to find a solution by explaining that Hamish is no longer an ICL player. I was hoping for a change in their position."

Mills hoped things would be better. "The BCCI and the ICC should come to a resolution to bring ICL to the fold and that would be fantastic for cricket worldwide. I just hope they are mindful of the impact on countries like New Zealand where good players like Shane Bond, Lou Vincent and Andre Adams are not allowed to play international cricket because of ICL. I am sure there is a solution," he said.